


Lipstick Mark

by varricscrossbow



Series: Ellana Lavellan [2]
Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: F/M, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-26
Updated: 2018-07-26
Packaged: 2019-06-16 11:11:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,225
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15435792
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/varricscrossbow/pseuds/varricscrossbow
Summary: Inquisitor Ellana Lavellan's thoughts on everything she's been through since joining the inquisition and how it came to affect her in different ways, especially her relationship with a certain mysterious elven apostate.





	Lipstick Mark

As Inquisitor, Ellana Lavellan usually found herself busy with as many duties as one could imagine. When she wasn’t traveling along with her companions through the most far-off places of Thedas, she would usually be in the War Room of Skyhold, always discussing with her advisors about her next move and the best course of action to take. That being said, it is easy to figure that she had very little time to herself. Most days, she would be so overwhelmed by work that she wouldn’t even have time to be bothered by this fact. On that morning, though, it wasn’t like most days.

Surprisingly, she had some time to spare before starting the preparations for their next journey to the Emerald Graves. For the first time in what seemed like months, years even, Ellana finds herself in her quarters, standing in front of a mirror, which caused her to become immediately self-conscious. She tried to recall the last time she worried about her physical appearance at all and the first memory that came to her mind was one of her and her little sister, Elanor, laughing about some joke one of them had told while braiding each other’s hair. The elf smiled widely remembering those times not only with great affection, but also with a hint of sadness.

Her family, her friends, her keeper, everything she could recall about her clan, now seemed like figments of her imagination. Something she had experienced in a previous life, perhaps. Another Ellana, with another face, another smile, whose obligations were nothing compared to what she was dealing with since she joined the Inquisition. Sometimes she could hardly understand how it passed from ‘caring for the Hallas and hunting to feed her people’ to ‘stop a magister darkspawn from becoming a god and taking over the world’. She couldn’t help but laugh at how ridiculous her situation was. Such absurdity couldn’t possibly be real, it had to be made up like the stories Varric used to come up with.

When she looked at herself in the mirror that morning, she could see just how the recent events of her life had changed her. Even though she was still very young, the person who stared back at her barely resembled the scared elven girl she was when first accused of the explosion at the conclave, when being confronted about the death of the divine and also when she learned that the strange mark on her hand could close holes in the sky. Everything she’s done since that day had weighed heavily on her and only now she came to realize how much it affected her, for better or for worse.

The reflex that faced her, was clearly the one of a woman now. She had more scars than she could count and the look on her face showed some wisdom, like she knew way more than she would probably tell. None of those recently acquired traits made her any less beautiful than she was before, though. She was well aware of what her looks could do, especially to a certain mysterious elven apostate who not only appreciated her physical attractiveness but also appraised her views of the world and her curiosity about pretty much everything.

The mere thought of Solas made Ellana’s stomach do a backflip and she couldn’t help but curse at herself everytime she felt this way. If someone asked, she wouldn’t know how to explain what kind of thing they had going on, she only knew there was definitely something. They’d been spending a whole lot of time together after he finally gave in and kissed her on the balcony, telling her _Ar lath ma, vehnan_ , leaving her longing for more. Since that day they had been slowly growing closer.

Solas was always invited to join Ellana on her journeys, they would wander together to pick herbs or even to hunt for food. She loved to hear his endless tales about the fade and he was always more than happy to tell everything she wanted to know. Sometimes he would catch her looking at him, distractedly, and she would immediately blush, pretending to be doing something else. Usually, Solas preferred to be discreet when it came to public displays of affection, but as they grew closer it just started to happen more and more each time. When she had the time to spare, Ellana could spend hours watching Solas painting his frescos at the rotunda and late at night they would cuddle together in bed. She would listen to him reading for her until the fade called for both of them.

Still looking in the mirror, all those thoughts went through her mind and she decided to dedicate her free time to treat herself and did everything she couldn’t do while busy with inquisition duties. She began by spending about an hour in a bath, feeling the hot water relieve the discomfort of her muscles, still sore from all the fighting she’d been doing lately. When finished, she felt refreshed for the first time in weeks and it boosted her mood immediately. She got dressed and inspired by a sudden boldness, applied some light make up, finishing with some red lipstick. Ellana smiled a wide grin, thinking about what Solas would say upon seeing her like that.

Ellana left her quarters and headed straight for the rotunda, trying her best to pretend that her stomach was not doing several backflips as she got closer. Solas was sitting on his desk, looking attentively at some parchments in front of him. Ellana was sneaky and the apostate was only made aware of her presence when she touched his ear lightly.

“Vehnan!!” - Solas looked at her, startled by her sudden appearance. - “If your intention is giving me a heart attack, I must confess I am afraid that you may end up succeeding.”

“I’m sorry, Vehnan, I wanted to surprise you!” - Ellana gave him an apologetic look and sat on top of his desk, causing Solas to look at her in the eye.

“Surprised, indeed” - He raised an eyebrow, a smile starting to form on his lips as he acknowledged everything about the woman in front of him in a matter of seconds.

“What is it?” - She tilted her head, pretending not to know what was going through his mind. - “Why do you look at me like that?”

“Why shouldn’t I look when you come to me looking so beautiful, Vehnan?”

“Not covered in other people’s blood, you mean.” - She thought about their trips and how most of the time they were fighting rebels, or templars, or bears. Solas laughed at the same thought.

“It is a relief for us all!” - Ellana jumped off the desk and Solas looked at her, confused. - “Already eager to leave, my heart?”

“I’ll leave you to your work now, lethallin. I know you don’t like being interrupted. Maybe we could play some wicked grace later at the tavern, yeah?”

Lavellan gave him a kiss on the top of his head and left a red lipstick mark on the spot that he wouldn’t realize it was there until much later that day. She ran upstairs to the library to meet with Dorian, before Solas could say anything else. It was her own way of leaving him longing for her like he usually did as well.


End file.
